#Dean likes cowboys | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

supernatural-sophia · 5 months ago

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In honor of the archive being down today, here is a oneshot that I posted to ao3

Tombstone

Dean’s phone started ringing and he was willing to do anything to get out of an awkward conversation with Sam.

“Hello,” Dean says with a gruff in his voice.

“Hello, Dean.” Dean almost crashes his car. Sam looks at him with wide and concerned eyes but Dean is already turning the car around.

“Stay where you are. We are coming to get you,” Dean says doing a U-turn so fast his car left marks on the ground. Dean didn’t hang the phone up or set it down; he kept it held up to his ear just to hear the person on the other end breathing. If this was some sort of cruel joke from God, Dean wouldn’t survive. He ignored his brother’s angry questions, lost in thought until they turned down a road. Sam knew where this road took them and started getting concerned that Dean had lost it. Then he saw the figure in the phonebooth; A tall man dressed in a tan trench coat. Dean barely had the car stopped before he opened the door and jumped out.

“Cas, is that really you?” Dean couldn’t stop his voice from cracking with emotion.

“No. You're – you're dead,” Sam stuttered trying to protect Dean from any more heartbreak. This had to be a shifter or some sort of demon trying to mess with them.

“Yeah, I was. But then I… annoyed an ancient cosmic being so much that he sent me back,” Cas said with humor in his voice. Dean’s eyes noticeably had water in them.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Sam stood in awe.

“I do. Welcome home, pal,” Dean hugged Cas tightly, breathing in his scent of ozone and forest before letting go. Sam gives a quicker, less intimate hug to Cas.

“How long was I gone?” Cas asked, seeing the way Dean was practically shaking in his presence.

“Too damn long,” Dean replies with a smile

“How did it go?” Jack asks, not looking up from his computer. He already assumes it went well judging by the fact that the bunker door closed and didn’t slam.

“Well…” Dean said suddenly embarrassed of how he treated the kid.

“Jack, um..” Sam stumbled over his words trying to explain what had just happened. Jack looks up from his computer with fear in his eyes. He thought it went well. Had he misunderstood again?

“What’s wrong?” He panicked.

“Hello, Jack,” Castiel said with a small smile on his normally stoic face.

“Castiel?” Jack said, trying to hide the hope in his voice.

“Yeah,” Cas sighs. “It’s me.” They were all overjoyed with Cas being back and Jack wanted to show off his skills to his chosen father. He drags Cas over to a table where a pencil sits still before it starts to levitate for a few moments before Jack giggles, letting it fall back down. Cas quirks an eyebrow but says nothing.

“I found a case. Hunter’s case,” Jack said, beaming with pride and excitement.

“What kind of-”

“Zombies!” Jack says confidently to Cas only. “I know what Zombies are now,” He whispered with a grin.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” Dean asked with suspicion in his voice.

“By watching you. And Sam,” Jack exclaims, excited to see a side of Dean that wasn’t drunken anger. “Three days ago, a vintage pocket watch with a personal inscription was sold at a pawn shop. But when they went to authenticate it, they found out that it'd been buried with its owner… 20 years ago. And when they checked out the grave, it was empty. Which means… The dead are rising in Dodge City, Kansas.”

Dean could hear cowboy music playing the moment Dodge City was meantoned and made up his mind to go. He could see Cas in a cowboy hat just like all the movies they have watched. Cas glanced over at Dean, seemingly knowing what Dean was thinking. Dean blushed, embarrassed to be caught with the joy of dreams on his face, but Cas only smiled softly before looking back over to a confused Jack.

Jack didn’t understand how Dean and Castiel seemed to have a full conversation without words when Jack couldn't ever get a normal one in with Dean as it was. He looked up at Sam for clarification, but Sam had a more awkward look on his face.

“Right. O-or maybe it’s a-a grave robbery,” Sam stuttered

“Oh,” Jack’s face fell but then Dean spoke up with a tone of voice Jack had not yet heard from him.

“Yeah, but we should probably check it out,” Dean said, not thinking it really was Zombies, but just wanting a Cowboy vacation.

“Wait. Really?” Cas asked towards Dean, giving another knowing look.

“Yeah, we've done more on less. Besides Dodge City's kind of, uh, kind of awesome,” Dean blushed with excitement. “All right, well… two salty hunters, one half-angel kid, and a dude who just came back from the dead. Again. Team Free Will 2.0. Here we go.”

“All right, this is supposed to be the best room in the joint,” Dean grins, shoving his key into the door. When he flips the light on, he couldn't help but show his excitement. “Oh, ho! The Wild Bill suite!” Dean exclaimed and Sam just gave a sarcastic ‘wow’ in response. Dean was laughing with delight as he looked at all the cowboy decor. If he could have had a room as a kid, it would have been decked out just like this.

“He really likes cowboys,” Jack says quietly to Castiel in some sort of confusion. He expected his father, who Sam explained had a hard time with human interactions as well, to have a similar confused expression, but he only saw one of deep love.

“Yes. Yes, he does,” Cas smiles adoring Dean from afar.

Dean was in the bedroom now, unpacking all his cowboy gear he brought.

“I still can’t believe you brought your own hat,” Sam shook his head as his brother said that he should have brought one as well. “You’re in a good mood, huh?” Sam was trying to get something out of Dean, even if he wasn’t sure what it was yet.

“Yeah. And?” Dean asked, no longer unpacking his bags.

“Nothing. No, no, I-I-I just, uh… you've been having a rough go, so it's… it's good to see you smile,” Sam said trying not to send Dean back into another episode.

“Well, I said I needed a big win. We got Cas back. That's a pretty damn big win,” Dean grinned a bigger smile than Sam had seen in years. Suddenly it clicked in Sam’s brain and we wondered why he hadn’t figured it out sooner.

“Yeah. Fair enough.”

Jack and Cas were having a sweet heart to heart when the next alert for the case popped up. Jack jumped up excitedly to wake Dean, against the protests of his father.

“Dean? Dean?” Jack attempted to wake up a sleeping Dean. Dean pulls out a gun from beneath his pillow, aiming it right at Jack’s chest. “No, no, no! Dean! It’s me,” Jack said, trying to get the angry man to calm down. The sound of saloon doors swinging brings Dean’s attention to Castiel standing in the room. Dean set his gun back down and demanded coffee.

“I told you,” Castiel whispered into Jack’s ear. “He’s an angry sleeper. Like a bear.” Jack wondered how many times Dean had pulled a gun on Cas for waking him up. They all, besides a still grumpy Dean, discuss the case and where to go next. As Castiel stood up to leave with the other men, Dean held up a finger and then pointed to his coffee. Cas sat back down on the couch next to Dean, glad to be back.

Cas watched as Dean slowly started to perk up. He still had bags under his eyes, but those wouldn’t be fixed from one short night of sleep and some coffee. Cas hadn’t noticed how dark they were when he first saw Dean but noticed it the moment they got back into the bunker. With some of his discussions with Jack over the night, he understood that Dean was not coping very well.

“Are you alright, Dean?” Castiel asked to see if he could get anywhere with him. He watched as Dean stared into his almost-gone coffee. Cas almost thought he wasn’t going to respond until he noticed that Dean’s eyes had begun to shine. He was holding back tears.

“I thought you were really gone, man,” Dean said, closing his eyes, and forcing tears away. Cas placed a reassuring hand on Dean’s shoulder. His hand always seemed to find its way back to where the scar used to be so long ago. He sometimes wished he hadn’t healed it away, especially on days like today when Dean leaned into the touch.

“I’m back now,” Cas said in a quiet tone to not break the comfortable silence they had mastered over the years.

“He’s just like you, you know,” Dean said, taking a drink of his coffee before speaking again. “Just-everytime I looked at him, all I saw was you.” Dean opened his eyes and stared into Cas’s bright blue ones. “He has the same beauti- blue eyes,” Dean blushed and looked away trying to cover the Freudian slip.

“It’s okay Dean. Really,” Cas tried to assure the man who had been so excited previously. “Now, let’s go to the crime scene.”

Dean smiled every time he looked over and saw his angel wearing a cowboy hat. How far he had caused Cas to fall was truly astounding. The only problem was every time he looked over at Cas, his hidden feelings bubbled towards the surface. Ever since he cradled Cas’s limp, dead body in his arms he couldn’t deny their connection. It had only taken one of them dying for him to realize it, but hey better late than never right? They were discussing a strategy when Dean had to lean close to pull the motel’s advertising off Castiel’s hat and Dean’s heart was racing. He hoped Cas couldn’t tell how nervous he suddenly felt.

“Just act like you’re from Tombstone, okay?” Dean said, trying to calm himself down.

“The city?” Cas asked.

“The movie,” Dean sighed. “With Kurt Russell? I made you watch it.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. The one with the guns and tuberculosis,” Cas said and Dean just rolled his eyes. Then Cas lowered his voice to sound more like a cowboy and quoted, “I’m your Huckleberry.” Cas would have never guessed how flustered it made Dean and Dean tried to hide it as much as he could.

“Yeah, exactly,” Dean stuttered trying to refocus his thoughts. “Well, it’s good to have you back, Cas.” Dean smiled as he and Cas excited Baby, loving the sound of his cowboy boots on the ground. He loved the way both he and Cas had cowboy hats on and he especially liked it when Cas used cowboy slang, even if he used it incorrectly and was awkward like the entire conversation with the sergeant.

Cas and Dean made it to the motel before Sam and Jack did. Dean put Baby into park but didn’t move to get out of the car.

“You alright?” Cas asked knowing that Dean wanted to talk, but was trying to find an opening.

“Yeah, I just…” Dean looked over at the angel who he was mourning a few days ago. “I missed you so much.” Cas could tell that this wasn’t the important thing Dean wanted to say, so he nodded his head, keeping quiet so Dean could still talk. “It was so much harder this time. At first, I couldn’t figure out why, but I was ignoring the one answer that I didn’t want to be true.”

“Dean,” Cas sighed, putting a comforting hand on Dean’s leg. Dean looked at the hand then back at Cas with wide eyes. Maybe Cas was reading his mind like how he always seemed to do. Dean shifted in his seat so he was facing the angel properly. He moved slowly, putting his hands on Castiel’s face holding him. Then he put his forehead against Cas’s and could feel the tears prickling through his closed eyes.

Dean wasn’t sure where the courage came from, but when he took his forehead off of Castiel’s he pushed his lips against his best friend’s. Cas had made a small sound of surprise before leaning into the gentle kiss. The moment Dean realized Cas was kissing him back the gentle kiss became a passionate one. It was an inexperienced kiss that was teeth clanking together due to the smile that kept forming on Dean’s lips.

They slowly gained experience with each other 's as they became more passionate introducing their tongues into the mix. Dean could feel his hands wander over the stupid, dirty trench coat that his angel always wore. He started sliding his hands underneath the trenchcoat, trying to remove it so he could be closer to Cas.

Cas didn’t seem to mind Dean’s eagerness and almost seemed just as eager. He helped Dean slide off his trenchcoat before letting his hands start to explore Dean’s body. A hunger he had locked away came pouring out as Cas started moving his kisses all around Dean’s face and neck. He gave a spot right under Dean’s jaw a small bite and the sound Dean gave at it made Cas repeat that motion in different spots, slowly sucking on them as well, leaving a dark bruise behind on Dean’s neck.

“Back seat,” Dean breathed out. Within seconds both men were in the back seat of the Impala clawing at each other’s clothed bodies. Dean was shaking and struggling with the buttons on Cas’s shirt and with a snap of Cas’s fingers, all their clothes were thrown across the Impala leaving both men in just their boxers. “Cas, you tease,” Dean laughed, tugging at Cas’s waistband.

Jack and Sam found a few bitten bones in the cemetery and Sam immediately dragged Jack back to the car they came in. It wasn’t too long of a drive to the motel but must have been long enough because the Impala was in the parking lot.

“Guess they beat us here,” Sam said, turning into the parking lot, not paying much attention to the Impala as Jack was.

“Sam!” Jack exclaimed with fear in his voice.

“What?” Sam turned to look at Jack.

“Someone is in the impala! Look!” Jack pointed to the impala and Sam squinted to see what Jack was seeing. Then he noticed clothes thrown across the seats, bits of skin, and moving bodies in the windows. Sam paled so noticeably that Jack’s panic doubled. “What? What is it?”

Sam looked back down at the child in his seat. “Let’s go inside,” Sam said before grabbing Jack’s wrists to pull him out through the driver’s door, putting as much distance between them and the impala as he could. “Sam, what’s going on?” Jack asked as he was being pulled into the motel and Sam went to the front desk asking for a new room.

“Uh..hey. Can I get another two-bedroom room by the Wild Bill suite, but no shared walls?” Sam asked. The woman quirked an eyebrow before she nodded in understanding.

“Why do we need a new room?” Jack asked.

“How old is he?” The woman asked Sam, curious why the man next to him seemed oblivious.

“Uh.. younger than you think and he..uh…” Sam pointed to his head and the woman nodded again. Jack looked around confused at how Sam and the woman seemed to be having their own conversation that he had no idea what it was about.

“I’m going to go find Cas and Dean,” Jack said with a huff before Sam grabbed his wrist again.

“Bad idea, kid. I’ll…uh,” Sam looked to the woman for help but she laughed and pulled up a magazine to read. “I’ll tell you when we get to our room. Just don’t go find them. Not right now.”

“I don’t understand,” Jack sighed before he let Sam drag him towards their new room. When they got into the room Sam closed the door behind him before hitting his head on it.

“Now? Really?” He said to himself, but of course, Jack heard.

“What is going on Sam?” His voice echoed across the room. He was tired of being left out of the conversations that Dean and Cas were having and now the silent conversation that Sam and the woman at the front desk were having.

“Jack, it’s a bit of a- Um, weird conversation,” Sam said before joining Jack on the end of the bed.

“I want to know. I feel like everyone else knows something right now that I don’t,” Jack whined.

“Look, Dean and Cas have a different relationship than the rest of us have with each other,” Sam sighed trying to find the right words. “It’s why Dean was much more of a wreck than I was when Cas died. It’s not that I didn’t miss Cas or didn’t want him back, it’s just different.”

“Different how?” Jack asked, still not understanding. It seemed like Sam was jumping around the answer without saying it. Before Sam could answer there was a knock at the door.

“Sammy?” Dean called.

“Yeah,” Sam sighed. Dean opened the door slowly and Jack noticed how disheveled Dean’s clothes were and his hair was a wreck. He also had odd bruises on his neck.

“Are you okay?” Jack jumped up worried. “Sam, I told you we should have gone and found them! He is hurt!” Jack exclaimed. Dean had wide eyes as Jack healed the random bruises on him and only was blushing while he made eye contact with his brother.

“How much did you two…?” Dean asked trailing off.

“I saw enough. Jack saw enough to get confused,” Sam ran a hand through his hair.

“Where is Cas?” Jack asked watching Dean do the impossible which was stiffen even more.

“He’s, uh, cleaning the impala,” Dean said, face turning a bright red.

“Gross,” Sam scoffed, which just got a confused look from Jack who was even more frustrated than before.

“Any case updates?” Dean tried to change the conversation.

“Someone explain what’s going on!” Jack boomed to the point where the lights in the room started flickering along with his anger. Dean looked to Sam for help, but Sam was doing the same thing to Dean. Luckily that was when Cas walked in.

“Why do we have a new room?” He asked.

“See, Cas doesn’t understand either!” Jack said, calming down knowing he wasn’t the only one confused.

“Understand what?” Cas gave a quirked eyebrow to Dean.

“We saw someone in the Impala in the parking lot then Sam made us get a new room and when Dean said you were cleaning Dean was super red and Sam said gross,” Jack rambled.

“Sam, you of all people should know that sexual relationships are not gross. You seemed to be satisfied having sex with a demon who was poisoning you,” Cas said and both Sam and Dean’s faces were bright red. “You humans confuse me. One day you are bragging about your sexual partners and the next sex is a taboo subject.”

“Cas! Stop talking about sex!” Dean said, looking extremely uncomfortable with the topic.

“This is about sex?” Jack asked quietly. He knew what sex was and this didn’t need to be as confusing as a conversation as it needed to be.

“Yes,” Cas said while Dean replied with “No.”

“Cas, he’s a kid. Your kid. You want to talk about that right now?” Dean said, still uncomfortable. Cas just rolled his eyes and stepped closer to Jack.

“Jack, what you saw was Dean and I having personal relations. They are normally supposed to be private and others are not supposed to see, that is why both Sam and Dean are flustered. We will not be talking about this anymore because what happens between Dean and me is no one else's business but our own,” Cas said before walking out of the room to their original suite. Dean stood frozen for a few moments before turning and following Cas.

“I’m going to shower, Jack. Get cemetery off of me. Then we will discuss the case with them two. Just turn something on the TV for a while.”

An hour later the awkward feeling was gone and Sam handed Dean the bone he found at the cemetery.

“Leftovers,” Dean scoffed. He tossed the bone to Cas who was explaining what a ghoul was to Jack. They discussed who it could be, but couldn’t think of anyone who fit the bill perfectly. Jack pulled up an image he had found previously while researching, asking if it could be of any help.

“Holy crap,” Dean said, which gave him a glare from Cas. “That’s Dave Mather.”

“Who?” Sam asked.

“Dave Mather. Cowboy. Outlaw. One of the Dodge City Gang,” Dean said with more excitement with every word. He could hear the cowboy music playing in his head as he took down a picture off the wall. “He was one of the greatest gunfighters ever. I mean, he died in 1886, which makes this a little weird, but…” Dean laughed with excitement. “Mysterious Dave Mather. I'm gonna get my boots on. One of the best gunslingers ever! Whoo!”

Sam rolled his eyes as he watched Dean practically skip around the room getting the supplies. Jack explained that he noticed that there was a picture of Dave and Athena together and said they were probably together. He gave a look to Cas and then Dean, who were staring into each other's eyes. It wasn’t the first time he had seen them give that look and Sam’s reaction, an eye roll and ‘bitch face’ as Dean called them, he had seen them too.

The team went to speak with Athena first, but Dave wasn’t there, but she knew where he was. They rushed to the bank where Dave was robbing and running outside.

“Two, three, four Hunters! Whoo! Must be my birthday!” Dave exclaimed seeing all of Team Free Will 2.0 waiting for him in the parking lot. A gunfight started out and Jack was excited to help.

“What the hell?” Dave said after Jack took several shots in the chest. Jack then uses his untrained powers to blast Dave backward, however a security guard was behind him and also got hit in the blast.

“No!” Jack cried out. “No, no, no, no, no!” He begged for Cas to save the man, but Cas couldn’t bring back life. Even worse, Dave got away.

“Is this the first time he’s hurt anyone?” Cas asked looking back at an upset Jack on the couch.

“No,” Sam sighed. “No, but it is the first time he's hurt someone that didn’t get back up.”

“Alright, you two should get Jack back to the bunker,” Dean sighed. That rotten feeling of having the son of Lucifer nearby was back in his stomach. He didn’t want to feel this way, especially with the kid as a wreck on the couch behind him, but he had expected this. Lucifer always caused problems, so it’s no surprise his kid was too, even if it was by accident.

“I can stay here,” Cas tried, but Dean knew what the kid needed. He needed his dad and he needed someone who didn’t threaten to kill him in the past.

“No, I’ll handle it. Besides, you need to be with the kid in case he…you know.”

“Okay,” Cas sighed heavily. “All right.” He could feel Dean begging him to stay, but he knew Dean would never admit to something like that.

Dean worked with the sergeant to take down Dave. The sergeant had no problem killing Dave in fact, he was prepared to. Dean then explained that Dave killed Sarge’s friend, so Sarge killed Dave. He then pursued and put the blame of the death of the security guard at the bank on Dave too. Jack didn’t need any more trouble than what was coming for him by just being an associate with the Winchesters.

When Dean got back to the bunker, all he wanted to do was drink and sit with Cas. He had gotten a picture of the two dressed up printed out and shoved it into his wallet.

“How’d it go?” Sam asked worried about Jack.

“Took care of it,” Dean huffed.

“Good,” Sam said quietly.

“Good?” Jack stood up. “How is that good? I killed someone. What was his name? The guard? Did he have a family?” Jack was almost crying.

“Don’t do this to yourself,” Cas tried to calm him down/

“Did he?” Jack demanded.

“Yes, he did,” Dean said, not sure if the truth was better than lying.

“Jack, look, this life, what we do,” Sam tried but Jack was having none of it.

“Just don’t. You’re afraid of me,” a tear fell down Jack’s face. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m just another monster!” Jack yelled at Dean.

“No, you're not. I thought you were. I did. But…” Dean tried but he knew he was fumbling.

“Every time I try to do something good, people get hurt,” Jack cried. “If I stay, I’m gonna hurt you. All of you. And… I can’t. You’re all I have.”

“Jack, listen…”